UPDATED: Gills, retailers expand recall; listeria found at plant

(UPDATED COVERAGE, Aug. 1, 9:50 a.m.) One week into a 6,000-pound recall of chopped onions and celery, Gills Onions LLC expanded it in late July to include whole peeled onions and additional chopped onions and celery after tests at the company’s Oxnard, Calif., facility showed listeria present.

The processing plant has been closed down since July 17, with investigators looking for the cause of the listeria found in a random sample taken at retail by the Food and Drug Administration. That sample triggered the July 18 recall.

The plant will remain closed until the issue is resolved said Amy Philpott, Gills spokeswoman. Gills officials were not immediately available to provide information about the total volume of the expanded recall.

No illnesses have been linked to the original or expanded recall. None of the products in the expanded recall have tested positive for listeria, according to the FDA recall notice.

Retailers recall fresh products made with Gills Onions

Retailers began recalling fresh products made with Gills onions on July 27. No illnesses had been reported related to these additional products.

Gills continues to operate another processing facility in a separate building from the plant that is temporarily closed, according to Philpott.

“They are running extra shifts, but orders are a bit behind,” Philpott said. “Gills is working with customers to arrange deliveries and meet orders.”

As of July 31, Philpott said the Gills processing facility remained closed while investigators still looked for the source of the contamination. The second facility continues to run extra shifts, but Philpott said gills is probably not meeting all of the demand for some retail and specialty product orders.

"Steve Gill has said it will take as long as it takes to resolve the problem," Philpott said.

Oxnard, Calif.-based Gillis voluntarily expanded the recall July 25 to include “all products processed in that facility and which may still be in the marketplace.”

“We’ve identified the problem, and we are taking aggressive actions to prevent this from happening again,” company president Steve Gill said in the recall notice.

The actions include forming a panel of food safety experts and microbiologists with expertise in listeria control; expanding required microbial surveillance and sanitation programs; and continued testing.

“They also have a team looking at possibly redesigning the facility,” Philpott said.”

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Coral Beach, Staff Writer

Coral Beach joined The Packer newsroom in February 2011, bringing more than 30 years of experience at daily newspapers, trade magazines and online publications. Beach earned a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Kansas School of Journalism in 1982.
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